Understanding outboard theft vs. dinghy theft

[contrail]

Originally Posted by john61ct

Go to the list of OP Started By threads.

Chapter headings for a book

"Solutions to the Biggest Problems of Owning a Boat"

Some clickbait IMO, like the "fire dangers of solar?"

I have thought exactly the same since the first post, from the way the questions are worded and asked, their regular frequency and the questions, themselves. No one thinks this way unless they are compiling a book! Looks like WE are writing an interesting sequel to the original Jimmy Cornell surveys.

[Tayana42]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Mine is a 20HP. Don’t think I would fool many into believing it was a 2 HP.

Mine is a 3.5HP. If I remove the decimal point do you think it could pass for a 35HP motor. If so would it go faster?[emoji8]

[akopac]

Simple. I made a Danny Green Camillian nesting dinghy. Sold the hypolon dinghy land 15hp. The hard dinghy sails better than it rows, rows better than it motors, and motors at 5-6 knots with a 3.5hp motor your can carry on board with one hand. Never needed to patch it either.
http://www.mytripjournal.com/images/...2451232491.jpg

http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-...xy-horse-power

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by jjorgenson3

Love the number trick but a 25 hp to a 5 hp might be a stretch.

As will our 30 to a 3
Or soon to be 40 to a 4

[UFGator]

Originally Posted by oleman

The first time I saw a battery powered angle grinder, my first thought was, locks and chains for security just died. I can cut tungsten carbide with a cutting wheel on an angle grinder.

Yeah, but that's going to make a lot of noise.

[beetle]

Originally Posted by Sojourner

1) Those tile tracker thingies. I'll get one before heading out of the Med, but they cost 10 bucks a month to run and I hate contracts, so not yet.

The Tile unit depends on a Bluetooth connection to a telephone app, the range of the Bluetooth signal is 300' for the Tile Pro according to Tile's website. That's not much to work with - but at least the system does not depend on cellular connection or WiFi. I'd question the value of putting a Tile on an outboard motor, the distances the motor is likely to move are well beyond 300'.

Any notification system that depends upon internet or cellular telephone connectivity doesn't work when there's no internet connectivity - which is certainly the case when you're in French Polynesia (there is internet available, slow enough that it can take an hour to move a 100kb file, and you have to go search for a connection). Ideally you'd want a system that is self-contained and can directly send a radio signal to your receiver. We have such a system for the dog when he wanders off, it will work over about a mile, he wears the dog tag with a battery and radio in it, I have a little radio directional finder receiver that can tell me in which direction the tag is located.

The dinghy I had stolen happened in Hanalei Bay, Kauai (Hawaiian Islands) - turns out it was four guys that simply picked up the dinghy and outboard in its entirety and tossed it into the back of their pickup truck and they drove off. So that sort of thing happens, fortunately it has only happened this once to me.

My approach is to lock the motor to the dinghy (I use a stainless steel bar lock that just covers the outboard handles), pick up the dinghy onto the foredeck at night and remove the lifting mechanism from the dinghy, and use a long stainless steel cable with a simple padlock when leaving the dinghy at the dinghy dock (or lock to a tree on a beach landing). This will stop the kids from taking the dinghy for a joyride or paddle around, it certainly won't stop a professional thief from taking off with the boat. So I don't leave the dinghy in dodgy places.

Lifting the dinghy onto the boat at night has the side effect of keeping the bottom clean and if you pull the drain plug it won't fill with rainwater; I've met people that had their dinghy stolen while it was hanging from the side of the boat on a halyard - a brazen crew of thieves arrived in their own boat, stood up, cut the lock and halyard, and as the dinghy fell into the water they took off with the dinghy in tow into the night.

- rob

[hellosailor]

"the range of the Bluetooth signal is 300' for the Tile Pro according to Tile's website."
Fuggedaboudit.

While there are different power categories for BT devices, and the Tiles may have a 100-meter range, no cell phone does. Cell phones all use conventional BT with a range of 10 meters or so, and that's all you get from the cheap low power chipsets. It doesn't matter if the Tile can see the phone, the phone won't see the Tile.

Now, I use Tile, and I've gotten several emails over the course of each year telling me that my Tiles helped find someone else's Tiles...because anytime someone running the Tile app passes an active Tile, the app snatches that location data and phones home. So there is a very informal world-wide net formed by the active Tiles and phones--but nothing you can really rely on, for tracking in general.

[geauxcruise]

For the most part, this discussion seems to be centered around the type of outboards that are being stolen, are the type that are "Screw Clamped" on, meaning Tiller Handle models. I have a 25 HP remote operated, steering console, etc, that is mounted permanently with 4 bolts. Just wondering what is the percentage of Dinghys being stole with permanently mounted motors? Are they less desirable as a target? Or, is the entire Dinghy most likely to be stolen?

[belizesailor]

Its common for the entire dinghy to be stolen and the motor etc removed elsewhere. Dink is often recovered sans motor later.

I dont think size/thru-bolting matters much. I sold my 25' launcha with a thru-bolted 60HP. The new owner was so happy, like a kid with a new toy. I felt bad for him when the whole rig was stolen just a few days later! They recovered it, minus the motor. [emoji26]

[billknny]

Originally Posted by Jammer

The CSSN and Noonsite reports indicate that a staggering number of dinghy thefts take place.

Do NOT believe everything you read--especially on the internet.

Originally Posted by Jammer

It appears to me to be exceptional to make it through a few years of Caribbean cruising without having the dinghy stolen at least once.

And how long have you been cruising in the Caribbean to come to this conclusion????

I have been cruising in the Caribbean for 3 years. No one I know personally has had a dinghy stolen. We have all heard the stories. Lots of stories. Usually the same story, over and over again. Maybe the people I know are just smart enough to take simple precautions.

1: Put your dinghy on deck or hanging from a halyard EVERY night.
2: Take the deadman clip with you EVERY time you tie it up.
3: Put a simple cable lock on the dinghy, and weave it through the fuel tank and outboard, EVERY time you leave it alone.

That's all that is needed. Somebody else's dinghy will always be easier to steal... then they can tell their story.

[mako]

Has anyone ever found benefit in keep a bright LED flood light illuminating the dinghy at night? Or is this excessive?

[PuttingDoctor]

My Zodiac side consol provided a very nice spot to hide a Spot Trace. I have used these prior on vehicles for employee tracking.
My 30 hp Nissan is remote controlled so if it goes missing the entire dinghy moves.
As it needs a key start or tow by another vessel I hope the cable lock will keep the opportunists at bay.

[contrail]

Originally Posted by billknny

Do NOT believe everything you read--especially on the internet.



And how long have you been cruising in the Caribbean to come to this conclusion????

I have been cruising in the Caribbean for 3 years. No one I know personally has had a dinghy stolen. We have all heard the stories. Lots of stories. Usually the same story, over and over again. Maybe the people I know are just smart enough to take simple precautions.

1: Put your dinghy on deck or hanging from a halyard EVERY night.
2: Take the deadman clip with you EVERY time you tie it up.
3: Put a simple cable lock on the dinghy, and weave it through the fuel tank and outboard, EVERY time you leave it alone.

That's all that is needed. Somebody else's dinghy will always be easier to steal... then they can tell their story.

Well, yes and no. Our dinghy is in its davits, every night, without exception, and often during the daytime, and most places, locked when ashore. But that came after two dinghy thefts, both with the mother ship anchored well offshore, and both times when we were aboard. Once in the USVI and once in the BVI. On both occasions, we were able to find the dinghy and engine (25HP) later, intact. One time it was in a group of three dingies, all stolen, and the other time it was recovered by the marine police in a mangrove area 25 miles away. We were very lucky. Over the past ten or so years, we have been meticulous with securing the dinghy and have been fine, so I agree with that point.


As to the frequency of dinghy thefts, well that varies, but it can be quite high. It often depends upon who is out of jail, on the particular island, etc. We had one bad period of dinghy thefts, maybe eight years ago, and our charter industry was asked to accumulate hard statistics. We were able to identiry 30 dinghies in two months! And these were hard statistics and not rumors. Where did they go? Another island(s) would have been my guess. Anyway, that little gang was apprehended and things settled down, thankfully, and we haven't had a repeat. But make no mistake, it can happen, and the only solution is to secure your dinghy carefully.